Sunday, January 25, 2009

At one of their biggest gatherings in modern times[1] many astrologers were both amazed and worried at how the chart for the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States was brilliantly auspicious, but also awkward and difficult. All seven astrologers in a public panel told 1,200 people that Barack Obama, who was yet to defeat Hilary Clinton at the July Democratic Convention, would be that 44th President.

On 20th January 2009, we have seen how right they all were, not only in naming the winner, but in their anxiety for what he faced and in the minutia of what happened on the day. Here are just a couple of pointers each way – you will find lots more.

At one of their biggest gatherings in modern times[1] many astrologers were both amazed and worried at how the chart for the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States was brilliantly auspicious, but also awkward and difficult. All seven astrologers in a public panel told 1,200 people that Barack Obama, who was yet to defeat Hilary Clinton at the July Democratic Convention, would be that 44th President.

On 20th January 2009, we have seen how right they all were, not only in naming the winner, but in their anxiety for what he faced and in the minutia of what happened on the day. Here are just a couple of pointers each way – you will find lots more.

Positive: Sun/Mercury are auspiciously cazimi within a few minutes of Obama's[2] natal Mercury, and Jupiter is trined his Moon.What happened: the largest crowd ever gathered in the Washington Mall and on television screens throughout the world. They listened rapturously to this man of the hour. Astrologers had been expecting and suggesting this for a long time ahead, because they had learned about cazimi and Jupiter/Moon crowd harmony from astrological traditions dating back before the 17th century.

Negative: Mercury was retrograding and Moon void of course in Scorpio, due to enter Sagittarius at 12:31 ESTResult: Barack Obama faces more unfinished business that almost any other President. And then the actual swearing in started six minutes later than was conventional and the Chief Justice gave the words in the wrong order.

AFAN member, American astrology Alison M. Lewis got it absolutely right, when she reminded us of Leonard Cohen's great lines:"There is a crack in everythingThat's how the light gets in."

Then came the news from the Washington Times that, due to legal reasons, the original oath of office words were transposed therefore they needed to redo it. They reported that Justice Roberts redid the oath of office at 7:35p.m. EST Wednesday January 21st. Have a look at the chart below. Could that packed stellium in the 5th and 6th houses show a greater amount of intense work to enable major creative structural change? Could the challenge and difficulty of carrying everyone sympathetically together be better shown than the 7th house Venus/Uranus T-Square to Moon and Saturn?

Some may remember that Ronald Reagan had his first inauguration as Governor of California shortly after midnight on the appointed day. We now know that Reagan used astrologers. At the time, though, it was seen as quite peculiar to have the oath at that hour...

It has traditionally been said that solar eclipses are more about leaders and countries, (with lunar more about ordinary people). This was once again clearly illustrated by the Jupiterian solar eclipse on 2009-01-26.

It may be worth pointing out, as perhaps not all astrologers will have noticed, the appropriateness of the Sabian Symbols for the degree of the solar eclipse that fell just six days after the inauguration of Barack Obama as US president. For the 7th deg of AQ:

'A child is seen being born out of an egg'.

In Dane Rudhyar's commentary for this degree he says: '...Here we see the emergence of a new type of human being who is not born from the "Ancestors" and who is therefore free from the inertia of mankind's past...The power of the whole is focused within him in perfect freedom from ancient standards of value based on local conditions.'

That is so right that it could have been written to describe Obama. The traditional rules also suggest that an eclipse falling closest to the Asc (as it does in Obama's chart) shows that he as leader will get on with the eclipse's work immediately, with primary effects in the first four months and secondary (but more important) effects in the following sixteen months.

The symbol for Jupiter's degree at that eclipse is just as appropriate. For the 5th deg of AQ:

'A council of ancestors is seen implementing the efforts of a young leader'.

In the commentary: 'The whole of mankind stands behind any individual effort, especially in times of critical decisions...' Well worth reading the whole of these two commentaries.

Also, although Mercury and Saturn were both retrograde at the eclipse, I'm heartened by the mutual reception and earthy trine between them. President Obama has a real mess to sort out and this pair says 'Yes we will!'

Hi Roy, I would be interested to know which chart you are opting to use. This is hot topic online at the moment. I personally opt for the first horoscope. Obama was hardly twiddling his thumbs at the White House between 08.35 in the morning and the re-taking of the oath. Elizabeth Hathway

Some astrologers don't like the Merc Retro. But in this chart Mercury rules the 2nd house of the Economy and the 6th house of jobs. And Obama is having to sort these out so that new growth will eventually be possible - perfect job for Merc Retro! Especially being Cazimi.

And Sun in Aquarius sextile Moon right at the end of Scorpio. Here we see the leader (the Sun) in a good relationship with the people (Moon), but particularly the black people, due to Scorpio’s association with the unacknowledged shadow side of the psyche, and therefore with the historical place of black people in US society. But the Moon is right at the end of Scorpio. So we have this leader with his vision for the future (Aquarius) leading his people out of their long sojourn in Scorpio and into the bright expanded horizons of Sagittarius. Wonderful!

I like the Mars, in the 9th House of foreign policy. It is in its favourite and most effective sign of Capricorn, sextile to Uranus/Venus and trine to Saturn. And Venus is in its favourite sign of Pisces in the 11th House, the community of nations. So America will not only achieve its foreign policy aims (Mars), it will be popular too (Venus). What a combination, exalted Mars sextile exalted Venus!

Hillary Clinton, the new Secretary of State, has a Mercury-Venus conjunction in Scorpio. So she has an ability to communicate (Mercury) on difficult issues (Scorpio) while staying on friendly terms (Venus). Her Mercury-Venus makes harmonious aspects with the Mars-Venus of the inauguration chart. So she looks set to be very effective.

That said, Hillary's Sun at 3 Scorpio squares the inauguration Sun, as well as widely hard aspecting Obama's natal Sun square Neptune. So there may be a wider context of a power struggle with Obama's administration, which comes as no great surprise.

Obama's Saturn in Capricorn is within one degree of the inauguration MC; and his Jupiter in Aquarius is within a few minutes of the inauguration Sun. The Sun and MC are almost the same in all inauguration charts, they are part of the institution of the Presidency. This shows the importance of Obama's Saturn-Jupiter, and the 'destined' quality of his rise to the Presidency.

Thanks to everyone who has commented following my piece. At special moments like this, it is a confirmation of our various methods of astrology that they all seem to point to auspiciousness from myriad perspectives.

Elizabeth, I was just following a report about the re-taking in the the Washington Post that was passed on to me second hand. You can click the link to this on the Home page of www.astrologicalassociation.com It was also reported on CNN I think that Barack Obama quipted "we enjoyed taking the oath so much we did it again"!

Yes, for me the actual moment at 1206 EST on 20th Jan 2009 was the moment we should use for the Presidency. Since I compared this chart to Obama's after he had announced his nomination in the Spring of 2007 (even though we did not know his birth time then) I had a strange feeling of destiny - especially being an avid fan of the West Wing TV series at the time! I wish like Zac Goldsmith a prominent UK ecological politician I had had the courage to take a bet on him at that very moment.Roy Gillett

About Our Blog

Write in questions, requests for information and comments for posting. The blog will be monitored to ensure reasonable length (only up to 100 words will be accepted in most cases), courtesy and relevance.

Blog Guidelines

The length of the article must be less than 1000 words and have an astrological content.

Contributors must be AA members.

Blog contributions must be the original copyright of the contributor. (Copyright remains with the contributor)

Any images used must be your own cc licensed or copyright free. If cc license is used then the proper attributions should be made.

All articles to be approved by the AA Trustees

If the AA Trustees consider the article to contain content that is in any way offensive or otherwise inappropriate, they reserve the right not to publish it on the blog.

The AA reserves the right to edit articles.

The author cannot use the blog to promote themselves or their work. For this reason links to the author’s website or the author’s email address will not be published with the article.